japan – Travel Photos

eBook How to do Photographic Story Telling for pre-order

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

How to do Photographic Story Telling: Including composing and posing ideas
Andrew Blyth (B.Sc, M.A)
Publisher: Travel Photos (Aus)
On Sale: 8^th February 2023
Print: USD$42.95
eBook: USD$9.99
Print ISBN: 978-0-9954040-5-2
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9954040-2-1

Travel Photographer Opens Archives and Offers Advice on Making Great Photographs

Melbourne, Aus – 30^th Jan 2023 – Travel photographer Andrew Blyth opens up his 20 years of archives of life in Asia to share his tips and philosophy of visual story telling. His first book for the arts and photography community How to do Photographic Story Telling offers a unique insight into his mind and vision. With many of us wanting to travel abroad again, we are looking to get the most out of our trips and key to this is getting amazing photographs. Andrew believes that ‘Photos are a time travel device that can instantly take us back to our adventures abroad’. Nothing will devalue these experiences more than poor photography. Andrew’s advice and philosophy of his style of photography will make for great reading – and viewing.

As you can expect from a photographer, How to do Photographic Story Telling is loaded with amazing examples of photography from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Australia. It includes how to pose people, how to think about photo compositions, and what makes a photograph meaningful. The book is light on words, heavy on unique ideas, and filled with visual expression. Andrew leans on the ideas of some of the greatest minds in photography by providing quotes in very clear context that will echo in the mind of the reader. It is an essential photography guide for all avid photographers and travellers.

The book, due to its photographic content, is published in print-on-demand premium magazine format (22x28cm / 8.5×11in). It can be ordered from Blurb, Amazon, and as an eBook on Kindle and Apple Books. The book is 124 to 128 (depending on edition) pages plus soft cover.

Preview and advanced print copies can be ordered from Blurb: https://www.blurb.com/b/11458486-how-to-do-visual-story-telling
Pre-order Amazon Kindle eBook: How to do Photographic Story Telling
Amazon Print Edition: How to do Photographic Story Telling
Apple Books: Coming soon

Travel Photos prefers recycled, recyclable, renewable, and reusable materials for its physical products. A portion of profits are used to support environmental charities. A portion of proceeds from this book will help support the next stage of the Operation Bilby photographic project.

2022 Calendars

This year we’re really excited to announce we’ve expanded our range of our calendars. Previously our main series was “Inside Japan”. For 2022 we’ll have Inside Japan, Inside Aviation, Inside Travel, and a new project theme “Edge of Day”.

Calendars are printed, prepared, and and shipped from the United States, and distributed world wide. Allow 5 to 21 days for delivery, depending on your location.

To order yours for friends, family, for Christmas, and birthdays, go to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ablyth

Cover: Yudanaka-Onsen
Jan: Temple at Yudanaka
Feb: Kinkakuji, Kyoto
Mar: Temple in Gion, Kyoto
Apr: Temple in Nakamura Ward, Nagoya
May: Ise main street
Jun: Senso-ji Temple, Tokyo
Jul: Shop front, Ise
Aug: Gion, Kyoto
Sep: Gifu Park, Gifu
Oct: Gion, Kyoto
Nov: Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto
Dec: A temple in Kyoto
Back cover: Senso-ji, Tokyo

To order yours for friends, family, for Christmas, and birthdays, go to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ablyth

Cover: Irago Island
Jan: Himakajima Island, Japan
Feb: Hastings, Australia
Mar: Brighton, Melbourne, Australia
Apr: Kilcunda, Australia
May: Kilcunda, Australia
Jun: Point Lonsdale, Australia
Jul: Irago Island, Japan
Aug: Twelve Apostles, Australia
Sep: Irago Lighthouse, Australia
Oct: Flinders, Australia
Nov: Himakajima Island, Japan
Dec: Hastings, Australia
Back cover: Utsumi, Japan

To order yours for friends, family, for Christmas, and birthdays, go to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ablyth

Cover: North American T-28 Trojan
Jan: Lockheed Hudson
Feb: Piper Cub
Mar: English Electric Canberra
Apr: Grob G103 Twin Astir
May: Cessna A-37 Dragonfly
Jun: Supermarine Spitfire
Jul: DG Flugzeugbau DG-1001
Aug: CAC Winjeel
Sep: Schempp-Hirth Duo Discuss
Oct: CAC Boomerang
Nov: AgustaWestland AW139
Dec: Schempp-Hirth Duo Discuss
Back cover: Piper Pawnee, viewed from DG Flugzeugbau DG-1001

To order yours for friends, family, for Christmas, and birthdays, go to: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ablyth

Cover: Sunrise and fog, Kilcunda Australia
Jan: Sweet shop and factory, Nara Japan
Feb: Fertility festival, Nagoya Japan
Mar: Souvenir shop, Ise Japan
Apr: Local temple in Sako, Nagoya Japan
May: Ceramics seller, Saigon Vietnam
Jun: Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei Taiwan
Jul: Maiko, Kyoto Japan
Aug: Longshan Temple, Taipei Taiwan
Sep: Girl in café, Saigon Vietnam
Oct: Restaurant in Gion, Kyoto Japan
Nov: Princes Bridge and CBD, Melbourne Australia
Dec: Sunrise pier, Flinders Australia
Back cover: Andrew at Centrair, Nagoya Airport Japan

Mt Hakone volcanic activity

In March 2018 I visited Mt Hakone when family came to Japan to visit. One of the places we went to was the Mt Fuji area. We went to Lake Ashi on one of those touristy pirate ship cruises. We then went on a cable car up to the Mt Hakone caldera visitor centre. While there, we saw lots of warning signs, including ones that said that if sirens went off, we should evacuate the mountain immediately. However, the lines for the cable cars were really long, and that was just a normal, and not even considering people were finishing the day and were all coming down off the mountain yet.

Looking into the crater of the Mt Hakone volcano. More images available for sale at the stock library. — The Mt Hakone volcano at level 1 alert, which means access to the crater is possible because of no current tremor activity

Mt Fuji and Mt Hakone both are considered active volcanoes, just no recent activity that would prevent people from building a visitor’s centre and tourist industry. It was reported that on Saturday the 18th May there were no tremors on Mt Hakone. However, by Sunday 9am there were 21 (Japan Times), and a further 24 through the day. The Japan Meteorological Bureau announced that they closed access to the visitor centre and raised the alert level from 1 to 2, on a scale of 5. Level 1 means “Potential for increased activity”, and they put warning signs everywhere and evacuation sirens. Level 2 is “Do not approach the crater”, Level 3 is “Do not approach the volcano, Level 4 is “Prepare to evacuate the area”, and Level 5 is of course “Run like you’re Samuel L Jackson in a disaster movie” (JMA). At time of writing, not all parts of the JMA English website had been properly updated, but here is the detailed page: https://www.jma.go.jp/en/volcano/forecast_03_20190518171517.html

The last time Mt Hakone is thought to have erupted was some time in the 12th or 13th centuries. The alert level was last raised to 3 in 2015. These images and more are available for sale at https://ablyth.photoshelter.com/

Looking into the crater at Mt Hakone volcano. More images available for sale at the stock library. — The Mt Hakone volcano at level 1 alert, which means access to the crater is possible because of no current tremor activity

Sponsor a Maiko shoot

I don’t quite know how, but I was suddenly and accidentally offered the opportunity to do a photo shoot with maiko. Maiko are not geishas, but are like geisha apprentices. I’ve been on the look out for just this opportunity ever since I arrived in Kyoto in March this year… in fact, for the last few years I’d been looking for the opportunity. Now I have it.

A geisha and attendants preparing ahead of guests arrival

As you know, geishas and maiko are very expensive. I am looking for a sponsor to help. The shoot is scheduled for the 2nd June (a Sunday), and I’ll have a few hours with them. The photos I get will be used by me for my own company use and promotional activities. However, any sponsors will have exclusive commercial use of them. If I get more than one sponsor, each will get a proportionate share of unique photos. This is of course important for maintaining a unique visual and aesthetic for your use.

Importantly, the Rugby World Cup is hosted in Japan very soon, and Tokyo 2020 Olympics are coming up, so now is the time to get your visuals ready ahead of that. Contact me for more information.